1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a carrier structure, which has an inside member of a plastic material, an outer member made of steel coupled to the inside member, and a bracket formed at a lower end of the outer member for reducing the weight of the carrier, wherein the bracket is coupled to the inner member at a portion for mounting a radiator by an over-molding method, thereby enhancing the mounting strength for a cooling system.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, a vehicle frame, defining the outer appearance of a vehicle, comprises a passenger cabin, an engine compartment, a trunk compartment, fenders, and the like. The vehicle frame is divided into a front vehicle frame, a central vehicle frame, and a rear vehicle frame, in a lengthwise direction of the vehicle.
The front vehicle frame is provided with a carrier, which has a headlamp, a radiator, a condenser, a bumper, and the like assembled thereto.
FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view illustrating a carrier in a conventional vehicle, FIG. 2 is a perspective view illustrating the carrier of FIG. 1 in a coupled state, and FIG. 3 is a cross sectional view taken along line A-A of FIG. 2.
As shown in the drawings, as for a technology for integrally assembling the headlamp, the radiator, the condenser, the bumper, and the like to a frame panel of the vehicle in order to enhance assembly efficiency at a jobsite, and to reduce the number of components to be assembled, thereby ensuring precise assembly thereof, an FEM (front-end module) is applied to the carrier.
That is, the carrier 10 is a hybrid type, wherein an inner member 11 of plastic material and an outer member 21 of steel are coupled to each other.
Here, the outer member 21 comprises an upper-end support 22, formed at an upper end thereof, a lateral support 23 formed at either side thereof, and a lower-end support 24, formed at a lower end thereof.
The inner member 11 is formed at a lower end of the inner member, with a mounting portion 12 having a coupling hole 13 for mounting a cooling system, such as a radiator 31. Reference numeral 32 denotes a bush.
Since the carrier must act as a damper of the cooling system when the engine is idling, it is necessary that it have sufficient stiffness and strength.
However, since the cooling system is mounted on the inner member made of the plastic material, there is a problem in that the stiffness and the strength are weak.
Furthermore, although the lower-end support made of steel can increase the weight of the carrier due to the material constituting the support, there is a problem in that the lower-end support does not contribute to coupling of the cooling system to the carrier.